I'd clip them myself when they started getting caught on things, about once a month or so. She hated it, so I'd only do one paw a day (taking perhaps 30 seconds), and continue the next few days until all the long nails were done. And I would always follow up immediately with something yummy. Tuna omlette was her favourite, as well as mine, since I'd eat most of it first and give her about a quarter. Everyone wins!

You can get it done at a vet, but unless you have to go there anyway, it's a bit of a waste to put the poor cat in a carrier and car and all of the associated distress just for something that only takes three minutes (unless your cat loves going to the vet for some reason and isn't upset by all of the associated things to get there). I asked the vet when we first got our cat, and she said that it's nicer to do it at home if you know what you're doing, and showed me how. Just keep your clippers clean and sharp, and don't clip the black line running down nail and you're good.

We don't. Neither of ours cats have ever needs their claws trimmed. They were at the vet for shots a few weeks ago and they weren't done there so ia ssume the vet agrees.

The cats do spend time outside and have a few scratching posts so I assume their day to day behaviour keeps their claws at a good length.

Ooh yeah--forgot about this!

Outdoor cats don't need their nails trimmed as much as those who are entirely indoors. Often not at all, since they'll scratch them on bark and stuff to keep them short. I'd only trim an outdoor cat's nails if they were getting caught on things or were obviously too long. Best to check with a vet during the next visit.

We currently have 11 cats (resident cats, foster adults. & foster kittens). We trim as needed, where "as needed" is defined as "draws blood."

We wait until they're sleeping, then sneak up on them and clip just the pointy tips with regular nail clippers.

I used to use regular "people" nail clippers on mine as well. Don't recall how often, but I used to grab him, kind of stuff him under my arm like a football - not hurting him, grab one paw at a time, and clip away. He'd howl like he was being tortured, but never scratched or bit, jump off my lap when I was done, shake his ruffled fur, and 3 second later, be back in my lap, purring up a storm.

My method is rather haphazard...if they walk on me and I get poked, then I trim their nails. I probably do Alexei's every two week, and Lyla maybe once a month...She is a lot better about scratching hers down on the posts.

I don't bother. I did when I first got the cats, but then I took in a feral and since I couldn't touch her I couldn't clip her nails. Once I saw that it didn't hurt anything I didn't bother doing it with the other cats either. They do get clipped when then go to the vet though.

Seriously, though, only one of my three needs it but she is jumpy and I simply haven't even tried. I have to be really quick to get her into the carrier and take her to the vet's where she is as meek as pudding. If I tried it, like I said above ... bloodletting. Mine.

Yup, that's Domino. If I even try to pick him up, he becomes The Whirlwind of Death. He has bitten me through a towel. If I spend an hour chasing Domino into exhaustion and take him to the vet, he becomes totally passive.

Yep-I got the "servant, fix this" look and commentary. And then he wanted to go for a walk (he has his own stroller).

Spoiled? Whatever gives you that idea.

Can we have a picture of him in his stroller? Please?

Sure.

He loves to go for walks. We go up to a park or the school and he gets out and wanders around. Complains if dogs get too close (he isn't scared of them-he is aggressive and wants to beat them up). And sucks up to all the people who come up and ask how on earth we got him to walk with us. Outside of the dog thing, he is pretty much a good-natured mush most of the time. And he loves people. And snow.

My sister says the stroller proves we are crazy cat people. I argue that we got it at a thrift store, so that is different than buying him a brand new stroller to walk in. She says that only proves we are cheap crazy cat people. She might have a point.

Bob never walked with us-he would have been scared into his next incarnation. And Artie doesn't even want to go on the screen-porch if noone is out there with him, so we aren't even trying with him.

Logged

Lynn

"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat." Robert A. Heinlein

I do the cats once a month. I bathe the dog once a month and do his nails soon after he comes out of the bath. It only makes sense to do all the pet nails at the same time.

I am lucky with my current pair. Both are easy to do nails. The girl just sits there waiting for me to get done. The boy usually starts a bit of growling half way through, but doesn't do anything else.

Everyone gets treats throughout so it is as pleasant as possible.

I used to have a female cat, Inky, who made doing nails almost impossible. Everyone is talking about "cat burrito." With her it was "cat mummy". That means grabbing her and wrapping her up as tight as possible in a large towel. Unwrap a paw and clip as fast as possible. Meanwhile she was squirming and fighting. After one claw, unwrap and rewrap because she got enough lose to get her claws out. We had tried every other technique with her, but this is the only one that worked at all.